The Secret Room
by lil'Ayn
Summary: Yuugi drinks a strange liquid from this guy and goes into his soulroom. but there is something in there that shouldn't be and it's out to get him. summary cliched, but plot is good. YamixYuugi. no lemon. sorry people, i'm fickle. 1st fanfic. yay!
1. I Hate Mystics

_**Please read to fill future gaps in the story**_-

-Sorry, couldn't get into the voice of the characters very well.

-The store clerk is the boss _and_ the employee, ok?

-And FYI- I like Chinese food, so I meant no offense to anyone, k?

-And malformed_ is_ a word for those of you who are like me and didn't know. (malformed and deformed mean the same thing, come from the same word, and have synonymous prefixes. Why do they that???)

K, story time!!

* * *

Yuugi trotted in front of his friends, kicking his legs out merrily as the four chatted down the length of the sidewalk.

"I'm hungry!" moaned the petite child, taking his hands from behind his head to comfort his neglected stomach. He smiled as he saw the others nod in agreement behind him and jumped to a stop, his tri-colored hair swishing at the change in direction.

"Let's go to Burger World!" he exclaimed, his arms stretched open and his mauve eyes gleaming in anticipation as the thought of a scrumptious, hot cheeseburger overwhelmed his previous idle contemplations.

"Aw, Yuug, we went d'ere five times dis week already," grumbled Jounouchi, a slight hint of dread in the blonde's tawny eyes. It wasn't that he hated burgers, in fact he enjoyed them quite a bit. But his last experience in that place hadn't left good impressions, as an escaped convict had held the entire restaurant hostage and Jounouchi had been forced to spend his lunch staring in terror at some fat guy's butt. He didn't have an appetite for cheeseburgers after that 'pleasant' little experience. "Let's go somewhere else fer today."

"How bout Pizza Palace?" suggested Honda, casually looping his arm onto the agitated mutt's neck as he dipped his head, causing his pointy hair to poke Jou's cheek. His navy clad arm, however, was quickly thrown off.

"Nah, I dun' like dat place," retorted Jou. "Bad service."

"What about the new Chinese restaurant? It's really close." Yuugi tried helpfully, which of course won a simultaneous scoff from the former bullies as they began to instruct the smaller boy of the dangers of consuming such the foreign substance known as Chinese "food".

The fourth member of their party sighed. The boys could never agree; at this rate, they would be stuck out here all day, arguing. She spun away from them to stare at the robust sports cars passing at her right and slowly proceeded forward, passive to the fact that the rest of the group was too involved in their tiff to notice her escape. Personally, she would love to return to Burger World. It was there that she had first met that deep-voiced gentleman, her hero who disappeared and left her with neither name nor face when he had saved her from that drunken villain; indeed, during the same incident that drove away Jounouchi. Such a place held no bitter memories for her.

Yet she knew that waiting at the restaurant held no benefit for her; she had already found her knight in shining armor. Literally glistening. She paused in her meandering and glanced back to Yuugi, at least a few heads shorter than his two companions and flailing his arms in frustration at their fickleness. As he did his jacket's sleeve hooked onto the edge of his chained pendant and swung it up into the gentle wind where it kissed the sun in a dazzling display. Yes, that was _him_.

The girl stared at the golden pyramid, tracing its outline in her mind: its centered Egyptian eye, the clamps about its corners and tip, the etched veins that demonstrated its true nature as a mere puzzle, a child's toy. But she was certain; it was this that acted as a vessel for her hero. She had seen it in action, seen it emit threatening light to those who held in their hearts ill intent toward Yuugi and his acquaintances while engulfing the friends in a strong and comforting luminescence; with this, the unique circumstances from their first encounter and testimony from Yuugi pertaining to frequent memory loss, she had puzzled it all together.

The girl grinned at the sight of the midget telling the two older boys off once their argument had become more abusive to each other. Unfortunately, she was the only one. Not even Yuugi was aware of his alter ego—the only obstacle between her and her crush. She groaned and walked over to the trio muttering something about immature brats beneath her peppermint breath. She knew she just had to wait for Yuugi to catch up to himself, but with all due respect, the boy just wasn't savvy to such things. And honestly, she was having a hard time restraining herself. He would have to figure it out soon or she'd have t—

The woman paused, a passing image coursing through her thoughts and demanding her full attention. She back tracked a bit until she stood in front of reality's interpretation of the memory now firmly stationary inside her head.

_No way._

"Anzu!" Yuugi called over his shoulder, finally taking note of the fact that his friend had wandered off without them and was now rigidly perpendicular to a nearby shop. He ran up to her to locate the problem, as did Honda and Jounouchi.

"Hey, Anzu, what are you doing?" he wondered aloud, drawing up alongside her. **THE SECRET ROOM** he read in block letters across the display window which Anzu was stationed at. Behind the glass gleamed several seemingly ancient trinkets: old astronomical tools, bent silver spoons, tattered books with torn binding, dusty porcelain dolls in their neat little gowns and the like. Centre to the whole exhibit was a dull copper canteen, rust chewing at its neck and a strange consistent musk set about it which gave the whole thing an even greater foreboding feeling.

Yuugi turned his attention once again to his female friend, starting as she mechanically turned towards him.

"We must go inside," she demanded, eyes clouded over with stubborn desire. The rest gave another collective sigh and shook their heads. Lately, Anzu had such a love for superstitious stuff; it almost seemed to be a fatal illness.

Seeing their reluctance, the girl began to beg. Her eyes could have passed for diamonds they were so bright.

"Please? We can just pop in here and then we can decide on which restaurant to go to, ok? Please Yuugi?" she whined, her attention now pin-pointed to the weakest in the group. Why waste her voice ordering around the two brainless boys when she could manipulate the littler one with a mere look?

Yuugi glanced at her suspiciously, then laughed in defeat. "Sure Anzu," he consented, striding over to the elderly glass door and creaking it open. The others followed in suit, Anzu darting in second of course and poor frightened Jounouchi occupying the rear.

"N-Ne, Honda, d'ya tink dere are g-ghosts i' here?" he mumbled nervously once they had entered, tugging at the other's shoulder as if it could protect him from his phantoms.

Honda paused a bit in anticipation, then slowly turned to face the trembling puppy, mock shadows flashing across his satanic visage.

"Sure are Jou." He chuckled a bit as the boy stared at him with evident terror.

"…L-l-lia'."

"Oh, but don't you think this is the perfect place?" At this Honda raised his arms to indicate the creaking wooden shelves which carried everything from pickled eyes to demented figurines to rusty daggers, old blood flaking off them through the murky shadowed glow radiating at the window. Shattered barrels of rotting scrolls and icy stones lay split about the floor and from what free space the walls were granted jutted grotesque masks and statues, which, shrouded in darkness from the overshadowing shelves, seemed to come alive, their eyes constantly following the rise and fall of the intruder's chest in envy and their mouths salivating at the pulse of his neck. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were more than just ghosts here."

""S…'s not funny H-Honda," shivered the poor traumatized child, pulling away from the storyteller to wrap his arms around his green jacket in self defense. But Honda merely smirked down at his friend and continued. It was Jou's fault for letting himself be afraid. And besides, this was too comical to let slide.

He was plotting his next scheme when Anzu spoiled the moment with her loud mouth. Stupid girls.

Still, both boys answered her summon and strolled up to Anzu and Yuugi, who were hovering over a decaying, dust choked counter that slid up to both the boys' waists (Yuugi's forehead).

Yuugi propped himself onto his tiptoes and rang the small bell atop the counter, wondering if there was anyone, anything in this dump that had the capacity to answer. Anzu eagerly aided him in his curiosity.

"Hello~o~o~o!" she sang into the abyss of curtain hanging as a makeshift door behind the furniture. She frowned as playful silence bounded up to greet her. Dang, she had been looking forward to this.

"Hello?"

"Hello!" Anzu jumped back in surprise at the sudden outburst, along with her friends. So loud!

A man popped up from behind the blackened counter, grinning like a Cheshire cat at his unexpectedly juvenile customers, his charcoal eyes crinkled with delight from behind his black framed glasses. Inside his pink ear snuggly sat a navy eatphone, its partner insecurely swishing back and forth on his white shirt, topped by a black apron slathered in grease and food stains.

"Well well. Don't get many young folks your age round here," he yelled, ducking behind the barrier to retrieve an old fashioned clock. He slammed it down on the counter and smiled again as dust erupted into the air. "What can I getcha?"

Anzu, still coughing from the upturned filth, seemed too appalled at the sight of the slob to reply. She just held her stance and glared unsurely at the storeowner. But Yuugi, seeing her dilemma, decided to answer for her.

"We're sorry to intrude, mister, but my friend," he accented this by gesturing to Anzu, "is really interested in mystic stuff."

"Mystic stuff?" asked the guy, questioning the purple eyed boy with is gaze.

"Ya know, like fortune tellin' or palm readin' an' stuff," input Jounouchi, gazing off to the side as if he didn't share Anzu's interested in the topic.

"Oh!" exclaimed the man, pounding his fist into his palm. "Well, I do have some practice in soul seeing."

"Soul seeing?" asked Yuugi.

"Yup. It's like palm reading and fortune telling, only we don't use a ball," he explained, jabbing at his chest. "We use this."

"Wah, your arpon?" Jou laughed, and earned a smack across the head from Anzu, who was apparently growing curious about this "soul seeing."

"No, here," the storeowner replied, repeating the gesture for emphasis. "The soul.

"The soul?" questioned Anzu. "How?"

"Ah," started the man, holding up a finger. "See, a long time ago I found this weird bottle with an ornament stuck on it. Out of curiosity I drank the red stuff inside and went to this strange room, which someone later told me was called a soul room." As he narrated, the clerk resumed tinkering with the greasy clock, polishing it and tweaking its mechanical components just a bit. "I saw a big dusty room, with yellow and orange paint peeling off the walls. There were a lot of desks and tables with books and paper and a garbage can sitting at their left with a bunch of chains and knives in it. But there was also a picture of my family in the trashcan, and the frame was cracked. When I took it up and looked at it, it didn't even reflect me like regular glass should. It was then that I figured I was dreaming. As I walked further into the room, I saw that there were tables beyond the paperwork which had picture frames turned upside down. When I turned one over I saw the face of a girl I had dated a while back. I started turning them all over one by one, recognizing a few faces here and there, the others I had forgotten long ago, when suddenly I was back on planet Earth, just laying there on the grass, the bottle beside me. When I looked up I saw a creepy Egyptian man with a turban and everything standing in front of me. He asked me what I saw so I told him. And he told me that the peeling of the paint and the fact that it was yellow meant that my life had gone from happy and exciting to dull. The tables full of books and paper showed my up-most devotion to school and the fact that they were first to be seen meant that I had been putting school before my relationships. The trashcan held my old life, he said, and that was why my reflection didn't show. Because if I kept going like this I was going to loose my family." Here he paused as if hesitant, then snapped a gear back into place and continued. "But when I told him that the room wasn't pitch black, he said that I could make things better, that it wasn't too late. Said that's the worst thing that could happen to a soul. So I made up with my family and got a real girlfriend. And look where I ended up." The lonely owner thrust his arms into the air to indicate the place's condition, then returned to his work.

The store was silent between the occasional clink or squeak from the old mechanic's clock as he finished his tale. Not even Jounouchi or Honda spoke, though it was more from the pressure flooding the room rather than contemplation of the story. It was so quiet that nobody even noticed the mystic freak as she leaned in excitedly and grasped the man's hand.

"Show me!" she blurted imploringly, her eyes shining with madness. "I want to try it!"

The storeowner laughed at her eagerness and shifted his project aside.

"I'll be right back," he replied, a joyful glint in his eye as he slipped behind the curtain. Obviously not a lot of people had been willing to try it before.

"Anzu, ar' ya' crazy?" raged the blonde when their host had disappeared. "D'ja here dat guy?"

"Yeah," agreed Honda. "It sounded more like a drug trip than a mystical thing."

"Shut up!" replied Anzu hotly, crossing her arms in defiance. For extra measure, she added, "I suppose you two would know all about that, wouldn't you?"

"Aw, sure, jus' cause we use'ta be delinquents means we auta'matically do drugs," complained Jou.

Yuugi, unsure what to do about the rift forming between his lifelong friend and his two new ones, just stood there and mumbled to the heated debaters. Of course he didn't think the syrup was dangerous, but he didn't think it would work either. These types of people were just con artists. He only hoped that this man wasn't so extreme as to give them drugs to prove his point. It wasn't probable, he had appeared to be a kind person, but it was possible nonetheless.

The man appeared in two minutes' time, bearing a large cream flask in his bear-like hands.

Anzu cut off her argument with the boys, leaving them to play with their empty victory, and whipped around to the counter.

The man took out a little plastic cup from behind the furniture and poured a thick, lumpy liquid from the urn into the container.

"Would any of your friends like to try it too?" he asked her, setting another cup out on the revolting surface in preparation.

"Yuugi?" inquired Anzu sweetly yet expectantly, purposely ignoring the other two as she turned towards her favorite victim.

Yugi paled and took another look at the bubbling _blood_ clotting inside the cups. _No, please dear Lord no,_ he prayed silently to himself. But when he looked at the girl's overpowering pout and thought about the talk of potential drugs, he consented reluctantly. He wouldn't make Anzu go through this alone.

"Okay. I'll give it a shot."

"Great," smiled the man, filling another cup and sliding the pair towards the two.

"Yuugi!" protested Jounouchi as the small boy lifted the liquid dutifully to his lips.

"Don't worry, Jou," replied the frail child, smiling like the martyr he was. "It's not poisoned."

Anzu shot the two bullies a meaningful look at that parting remark and quickly chugged her portion of the potion. Yuugi followed closely in suit— better to get it over with.

A minute later he was crumpled atop the wooden floor, his lifeless figure barely three feet from Anzu's cold carcass.

(Flashback of about, oh, a minute and ½ ago)

As the had substance slid over his lips and down his throat, the first detail that Yuugi realized was that contrary to its previous appearance, the liquid felt as smooth as silk. Secondly, it felt and tasted _extraordinary_. It was refreshingly cool and retained the flavor of a strawberry/raspberry smoothie; not only that, but heaven itself seemed to be slipping through Yuugi's system as the concoction seeped deeper and deeper into his body. But soon it trickled down to what felt like the core of his being and agony erupted into his veins. It shot throughout his legs and arms and into his head, where it stabbed mental needles through his mind. Yuugi couldn't control his trembling body, finding it quaking as if it might burst from the anguish it restricted. He sank to the ground in lack of strength, all of his muscles instead trying to bear the unearthly torture, his mind's cogs becoming overheated with all the spinning that was required of them as he attempted to discover a method of pain alleviation. _I'm going to die,_ he realized.

Yuugi could vaguely make out the brown haired school boy above him; barely feel the urgent dig of his fingers and the delirious panic in his shouts as the quaking boy sank further and further into himself. He could feel reality ebbing away but found that he didn't care. Something much better was pulling at him, away from the hellish sensations; he could feel it vigorously suck him in but he knew he wouldn't resist it. It felt too good, too _safe_ to be dangerous.

After all, that is where one goes when he upset—into himself. Into his soul. It is the only real safe haven in a world that has the capacity of deception, a world which seeks pain and wrong doing. Yuugi had experienced that much.

In the logical sequence of events, it would seem that the ultimate crime of the world would be to control the soul right? And the only way for that to happen would be if an agent of the world were to enter another's soul.

Luckily for us the world says it's impossible.

* * *

I used dramatic irony! My teacher would be proud.


	2. A Room of My Very Own

_**Again, read please:**_

-Midnight is a color in my mind. It means black, ok?

-if you read this dryly, w/o any emotion, then of course it's going to sound stupid. So try to get into the character if you don't want to be disappointed in the story, even though the character isn't exactly Yuugi Mutou from the manga. Plz?

* * *

Yuugi rubbed his cheek into the soft fabric beneath him and moaned gently, disappointed that his mind had chosen to bid his tingling body wake. He was overcome with exhaustion and fatigue was humming in every joint contained inside his pleasantly warm skin. He refused to disclose his irises, drinking in each moment of sacred freedom he was permitted before school. Soon the alarm would ring and then and only then would he leave the precious haven of his bed.

Yuugi snuggled in closer to the mattress and inhaled deeply, relaxing his aching muscles even farther, if possible, into the fluff. What an intoxicating aroma. It was like nothing he had ever experienced before, with neither a flavor of scent or an object physiologically attached to it. Instead the fragrance reminded him of…assuredness. Like he was untouchable; nothing in this world could reach out and strike him whilst he remain here in this cradle- not people, nature, nor disease. No, not even death had the power to harm him here.

…_What?_

Yuugi's eyes flew open instantly, flinging their burden of drowsiness off from the force of his surprise. _Death_?

He was forgetting something. He dipped his throbbing head into his hands, squeezing the pulse of his thoughts beneath his palms. _Death_. What was it about that word that had shocked him so? He crawled aimlessly through the fog inside of his mind, scraping at the ground for a solid grip to bounce his thoughts from. Something was wrong. Why couldn't he remember? Even in the mornings he had had a tendency toward a clearer mind. So why couldn't he think now? Was it the new scent?

The boy glared at the placid blue material hugging his cheek. It had to be the sheets. Someone probably soaked some sweet-smelling liquid into it while he was sleeping, probably another person who was out to get the Millennium Puzzle. Unaware of the obvious stupidity to this idea due to his current state, Yuugi scrambled to free himself of the previously tranquil bed. But even distanced from the mattress, his memories remained on strike. It wasn't until he whacked his foot on it metal bed frame in the urgency to right himself that the recollection shot into his brain, triggered by the slight brush on the remembrance of agony.

_Death_. He had _died._ He couldn't be in his room; he was _dead_. He had ignored Jounouchi's and Honda's warning and drank the stupid blood and killed both Anzu and himself. He remembered now. He was dead; there was no doubt.

_Then why does my body hurt?_ Yuugi speculated to himself, a bit of the mist lifting now that his body was adjusting itself with its surroundings. He could think clearly enough now to recognize that he no longer had a being with which to feel pain. _So, I can't be dead, right? _he contradicted logically, a bit rifled that he felt no shock over the whole concept. That meant that he wasn't dead right? That meant that inside the depths of his mind, he knew he was alive.

But could he really have survived through all that pain? After all, it wasn't normal for your heart and liver to scream as if they were being yanked out of you. What had happened to him? Was he dead? Was he alive?

Yuugi shook his head at such profound inquiries. He willed himself to forget the debate for now and concerned himself with more immediate problems, such as the matter of his location.

From his upright position on the mattress, Yuugi could see the entire rectangular room. It wasn't an extremely complicated place; it reminded him of a parentally neglected child's bedroom rather than the fiery pits of Hell. (alive- 1, dead- 0) Toys were scattered over the light green carpeted floor—a few robots, a box worth of Legos, some action figures, a striped, stuffed snake, two or three colorful balls, a model store with tiny figures surrounding it, a plastic rake, and numerous other playthings. Across the room from his pedestal lingered a small white table, weighted down with a few adult books and stacks of coloring and activity pamphlets. Glancing to the right, Yuugi discovered a small stool placed by the bedside and the old-fashioned lamp lit atop it, whose luminescence played around the bright room. The wallpaper itself was yellow as well, which added to the glow, and a white boarder protected the wall from the sea of emerald.

When Yuugi swept his gaze to his left, however, he saw a door, slightly ajar, that lead to an all-engulfing blackness. It seemed to set the whole mood of the room into a state of fraud and deception, as if he were on a stage instead of…wherever this was.

Slowly, uncertainly, Yuugi rose from the bed and tiptoed around the toys, afraid that if the foreign objects were to touch him in this strange place, they might relieve his body of his soul or something to that effect. As he approached the midnight abyss, a cold feeling swept over him and he began to long for the warmth of the baby blue cloth lying limp on the beckoning bed behind him.

He hesitated, shivering, and glanced around. There was no chilling breeze emerging from the small crevice, yet it seemed to radiate cruelty and drive him back. But that wasn't all. Something was there; he could sense it. Some abhorred, grotesque shape lingered directly behind that looming door. It was waiting for him; waiting for his body. When the tip of his foot barely cleared the threshold, when he was out of his element, then the nameless monster would stretch a malformed limb out and snatch him from the light to drown him in darkness. It would shred the tissue hooking his muscles and bone and vacuum his heart clean, dissecting the kin to each eye and stomach and kidney so that it might playfully categorize them in the idiotic terms of location or color or shape before mincing them into an indistinguishable pulp through its razor canines and then finally settling the choppy liquid in its twisted belly. Oh yes, it was surely waiting for him. No move was safe from that abomination; it was watching him. Watching for him to exit his safe haven.

Yuugi backpedaled until his legs were gracefully swept from under him by the warm bed, comforting in its softness which, when he had sunk into it, held him as a concerned mother would. In grief, he swept an arm over his panicked pupils. Imagination could be a terrible gift sometimes— abhorred monster? Such boogiemen only existed for grade schoolers, he chastised. ( no comment on his appearance) Such panicked, misshapen, irrational, immature thoughts did not belong to him. _What is wrong with me?_ he pondered, sighing in relaxation as the terror seeped away from his body.

Well, to start, he was cornered into this foreign, forbidden room—and a childish room at that. His mind was slower than normal due to this strange place and then there was his rampaging "creativity". He didn't know his way out, nevermind the method of entry, he had no clue as to how long he would be confined to this room, he had his doubts about the toys' composure being edible or drinkable and could see no other way to sustain his body, he had no hint as to his friends' wellbeing, and oh yeah, he just might be dead.

There was only one way to deal with all this—sleep it through. Normally Yuugi was the class of person to struggle through difficult situations awake, but that was with tangible problems, not possible hallucinations or witchcraft or spin-offs of Hell. But… perhaps his mind merely couldn't handle the agony spawn from that red poison and he had passed out, meaning this was all a fabrication tucked beneath his skull and he would awake to discover himself in the real world, just as the storeowner had in his tale.

_Yes_, he thought excitedly, _maybe this is my soul! Maybe I'm still alive and the pain was supposed to happen. I didn't die. And neither did Anzu! I can see my friends again!_ Happiness crashed into Yuugi's frenzied mind in a wave and his amethyst eyes were gradually overshadowed by pale curtains of skin as a mountain worth of previously unknown guilt and apprehension dissipated. _I can go home!_ _Anzu is ok! Jou and Honda will—!_

Yuugi's thoughts wandered off and he grimaced a bit at the two rough boys' predictable reactions. Well, at least they would be excited to see he was alive.

Yuugi forced his now exhausted body to right itself, for with the new absence of adrenaline he had lost his previous energy, and glanced about the room, memorizing each detail so that he might relay them to the storeowner and have his own life laid out before him. Hey, if he had to go through so much trouble to get here, he might as well get something out of it.

Sighing as he allowed his weak, quaking body to collapse onto the smooth blue sheets, when he was satisfied with his memory session of course, Yuugi permitted his mind to relax and soon he was wavering on the brink of a much needed, endless sleep. After all, he had no reason to deny his crying body that right (It is amazing how fear is like coffee—it uses up all your energy in a matter of seconds then leaves you to put up with the consequences); he wasn't dead and so had no worry about it (although this was not yet proven, he accepted it wholeheartedly), he didn't feel the urge to stay up playing with the colorful objects scattered across the ground, he would eventually go home so he had no need to attempt an escape, and he was alone. As long as he stayed in this room until he was rescued by whatever mechanism was designated to return his mind from his soul to his body, he was alone. And as long as he was dreaming, there was no obligation in his thoughts to experiment with the shapeless monstrosity watching him behind that door. So he allowed himself to sleep. He drowned himself in the striped pillow and sky blue blankets and slept, inhaling the pleasant scent and slipping into the stupor that it caused. And as he began to drift off, Yuugi giggled a bit at the randomness of a thought that had charged to the front of all the others, made possible by the mysterious aroma of course.

_Hey,_ he thought, demanding concentration from his loopy attention span which paid no heed to its master's command. _Isn't it funny how the same black is the color of sleep__** and**__ the darkness that hides the monster? …then I hate it and love it at the same time._

This childish thought formed his farewell to the outcast room as his mind dropped straight through his bones, through the mattress and the carpeted floor and out of the room into the starry sky where it lit up like a comet and slammed into Yuugi, securing itself inside its rightful place in the physical flesh—the body which was now wrapped in blankets and lying face up on a hard, warm, wooden floor.

* * *

…

(wooow, that's a long sentence. Srry.)

And sorry all these end so weird. I'm trying to stop, but the essay format is ground into my brain. The endings have to be …different from the rest of the story and wrap it all up, but it's just getting confusing now. Sorry.

Review plz!


	3. Matchmaker Soul

_**Read if you so desire-**_

- I haven't changed my mind for those of you who are reading this for the Yami x Yugi. Don't worry.

- chapter 16 in the manga if you want to check Anzu's soul room. And yes, i know there is a door in the picture. Just pretend like it doesn't exist please.

-italics are used for thoughts as well as emphasis on certain words

* * *

Time had fled long ago from the backroom of the unkempt store. Four bodies, two warm and two cold, occupied this tiny, brown section which validly could be described as less sanitary than the rest of this rotting cardboard box. Barely a word was exchanged between either figure crouched on the unyielding wooden bench flung lazily towards the door. They were more engrossed in the conversations they were hosting with themselves. The only other pair of objects that could be identified with humanity inside the cramped storage room was stiffly settled over a wooden plank heightened by eight cement blocks, two forming one leg of the makeshift bed. Needless to say, it rivaled the occupied bench in disagreeability. The sunken pillow for each head and the grimy blankets made the platform no less uncomfortable. Yet they refused to wake up.

Jounouchi spared a glance towards the two corpses. Curse that old man. The only reason neither Jou nor Honda had called for an ambulance or the cops was the old man. He had insisted that the whole event was normal and convinced them to postpone the police calls and see if their friends would wake on their own.

_Dang Gramps tricked us!_ despaired Jounouchi, his fist curling into a tight, angry ball. _'s been like four hours o' som'tin and dey still 'aven't woken up yet!_ Desperately he glanced at Yuugi, face lax as if he was only sleeping. _Dey would 'ave woken up by now!_ he told himself, locking in the idea of teaching the old storeowner a lesson into his to-do list. How dare he dupe Yuugi and Anzu into drinking that stupid poison! Not only that, but due to the old man's interference, it might be too late to save them.

Jounouchi quaked at the thought and, taking notice of this, stalked off the bench and began pacing to calm himself, muttering his concerns aloud.

"What if 's too late? What if dey never wake up?" Honda lifted his tired eyes to his buddy's frantic figure, their attention having been demanded the moment Jou moved his hand to propel him body from the seat.

"Wait," Jou paused in thought. "If dey don' wake up, dat makes da ol' man a murdera," at this he spun around to face Honda enthusiastically. "Right?"

Honda sighed and placed his stressed forehead into his palm. This guy was a little too eager to blame the store clerk, as strange as the man was. But this behavior was understandable. After all, there had to be someone to blame—that belief came with the lifeless corpses, free of charge.

"Jou, they'll be ok," he told his friend, glancing up to exhibit a miniscule smile. Just keep hoping. That was all his frozen mind could circulate to his thoughts at the moment. Just keep hoping and everything will regress to normal. It had too, because this was a mistake. This wasn't supposed to happen; therefore it would correct itself in due time. Just had keep hoping until it happened. Otherwise the possibility that it wouldn't grew.

"Honda—"

"They'll be fine."

Jounouchi relinquished the debate and plopped back down onto the bench. He admired Honda's determination and loyalty, but discovered that emulating it was an impossibility. How could he be expected to just lounge there while his two of his only friends were dying? He allowed his gaze to wander over to the concentrating Honda and then back as he thought. It was odd how some people seemed to possess no energy whatsoever. The edges of Jou's frown lifted a centimeter as his train of thoughts conjured up a certain bouncy, spiky-haired boy. No, he hadn't been the calm type at a—

"Yuugi!" Jounouchi shouted as his wandering eyes snagged on the sight of the fidgeting sheet. He darted over to the "bed"-side and grinned wildly as his friend's purple hair swished under the thin material, but when he ceased squirming, the boy's frown returned.

"Hey Yuugi!" Jou promptly yelled, causing the figure to cringe from the force of the noise. Well, at the very least he wasn't dead anymore.

"Yuug, wake up will ya?" the blonde shook the body vigorously until Honda rushed over and cuffed his hands with his own, scolding him about rough handling previously dead people. Jou brushed his friend off and proceeded to strip Yuugi of his cloth shield, to which poor Yuugi groaned and covered his suffering eyes with a shivering hand. The blanket had been warmer.

"Yuugi!" Aware of his name and the instinct to respond to it, Yuugi flipped his body over to face the source. He squinted against the light but when he witnessed Jounouchi's murky face, his torso stiffened and his arms jacked him up until he arrived at the blonde's level.

"Hey, how ya doin'?" the taller child asked as Yuugi forced the sleep from his eyes with a little fist.

The purple-eyed boy peeked at his surroundings, a bit disoriented, but as his memory trickled back to him his eyes increased in size and so did his excited appearance. Finally, with an enormous grin plastered to his face, he focused in on his friends who were squatting beside him and gazing at his ever-changing expressions curiously.

_Yes!! I did it!_ he celebrated. _I'm home! _ So he had been right; the pain, the eerie room, the exhaustion, that was all normal. He had only to allow it its right to proceed and he would be carried right back to where he first began, like a hungry river that flowed in a circle.

The fragile boy smiled up at the two bullies, literally breathing in the sight of their visages. He felt successful, though he had done nothing to escape, as well as relieved. Never would he return to that idiotic little room he instructed himself. Never.

"…What'r you grinnin' fer?" asked Jounouchi suddenly, replacing his relief with a mask of anger. "You a'most gave me a he'rtattack!"

Yuugi laughed. "Sorry Jou. I'm just glad to be out."

At this the others' expressions straightened.

"Out? Out of where?" inquired Honda.

"Let's find the storeowner first," replied Yuugi, glancing around in case he was already conveniently placed in the room. He wasn't. "I wanna tell him about it too."

"Come on!" urged Jou, already positioned at the door. He must have been curious.

Honda followed and then Yuugi. But as they were leaving his peripheral vision alerted him that he hadn't been alone in the bed. Perhaps that was why such a thin, scraggly cloth could feel so warm.

"Hey," called Yuugi, reeling Honda back into the room, Jou being too far gone. "What about Anzu?" He accented his concern by pointing in the bed's direction.

"Don't worry, she'll still be there when we get back," stated Honda, resuming his journey down the hallway and through the dividing curtain into the main room. He wasn't without his curiosity either.

Yuugi hesitated, glancing at Anzu, before deciding that Honda was right. Anzu was safe; she would be brought back just as Yuugi had been. He turned around and pursued his excited friends.

Once the trio had located the storeowner, Yuugi relented the account of his explorations in the soulroom. It took less time than estimated and needless to say, Yuugi was surprised that he had remained unconscious for a full four hours. The store clerk explained that soulroom visitations were similar to dreams; much time was wasted in forcing the user into unconsciousness and then into the room, and therefore only a small portion of the allotted time that the potion stayed in effect was spent in the actually room itself.

When Yuugi inquired specifically about the meaning of his room, however, the old man refused to answer, informing them that they would be required to go see the turban-guy as there were several items in the room that had a foreign meaning to the man. He did seem stubbornly intrigued over the topic of the black door though.

"I might be able to tell you something about it," he hinted, enticing fifteen dollars out of Yuugi in exchange for the data as well as the experience. He had to have _some_ source of income.

"From what I gathered off of the Egyptian after I visited my soul, the rooms never have a door because no one else can get in without this potion." He gestured proudly at the flask now lying on the counter, its ornament glinting as the setting sun poked through the display window and into the tired old shop. "So, if there is a door, there must be another soul connected with yours." At this he smirked at Yuugi, pointing a bony finger at the boy accusingly. "Meaning, you have found your soul mate."

"Soul mate?" questioned the three boys in unison.

"Like, a girlfriend or a spouse. And at such a young age too," the man shook his head in mock-pity. "Wish I was as lucky as you."

Yuugi stretched his mind over about a decade and a half of recollection, searching for his "soul mate." It wasn't very hard to find the supposed future wife; Yuugi hadn't obtained many friends in addition to his current ones, and all of them were guys. All except one—Anzu.

A faint blush skipped across the boy's cheeks as he fantasized Anzu filling the role of his girlfriend. Who wouldn't blush after all; Anzu's body wasn't anything to complain about and her personality, at least towards Yuugi, was ideal. But somehow it just didn't feel right; when he thought about a serious relationship with Anzu as opposed to those flirty episodes they had experienced in the past. For unfathomable reasons, it almost felt…dangerous. (gee, i wonder why)

Was kind, motherly Anzu really the hideous monster behind the door?

"Really Yuug?" The blonde's large, snickering head flooded Yuugi's vision. The startled outcast backed immediately, hands providing protection to the front of his body by habit.

"So who is it? Who is this 'soul mate' of yours, hmm?" Honda sneered as Jounouchi backed Yuugi into his accomplice.

"Ahaha, umm…well…you see, that…" mumbled Yuugi, flustered by the fact that they were double-teaming him.

"You two, stop bullying Yuugi!" growled a recognizable voice from the curtain-filled doorway.

"Anzu!" Yuugi cried out, all anxiety falling away.

She cast a warm smile his way while the two bullies flocked as if to embrace her, however they saved themselves the pain and quickly decided against the action.

"Hey, yu'r up!" pointed out Jounouchi instead.

"Yup! And you'll never guess where I've been." At this Anzu smirked triumphantly, her eyes capturing that I-told-you-so glint in their smooth aqua surfaces.

"You were in your soulroom right?" chirped Yuugi, the old man's prediction tickling his attention. Assuming that Anzu was his "soul mate", it intrigued Yuugi to know what the other room looked like.

"Yeah!" she replied enthusiastically. "It was so pretty! There were flowers everywhere and all the walls were covered with mirrors. And there was this big peach tree that reached up to the sky and a bunch of colorful birds flying around! There was also floating stuff—a bronze sun and a cute little window and a picture of New York and..." The shy reference she made to Yuugi with her eyes caused the boy to flush brightly. Did Anzu have a picture of him in there as well? "Oh, you should have been there! Especially you Yuugi; you would have loved it!" Suddenly, struck by the idea and recognizing the storekeeper's presence, she rushed up to the startled man and grabbed at the flask.

"Hey, is there a way for someone to travel into another person's soul?" she questioned animatedly, clutching the huge bottle to her chest.

The storeowner chuckled at her enthusiasm and reached a scrawny arm out to retrieve his treasure.

"Sorry lady. Going into another person's soul is taboo. 'Sides, this stuff is good for only one time."

"Whaaat?" moaned Anzu. "You mean I can't go back?" The clerk nodded sadly.

"Aw, and it was such a quiet place too," she whined, indicating back at Jou and Honda who had quickly misplaced their interest in Anzu's experience and were now noisily occupying themselves with a disturbing African mask mounted to the wall.

Yuugi couldn't indulge himself in his friend's sorrow though. The thought of being banned from that place caused comfort to flood Yuugi's mind. The more he thought about the cursed room and its control over his emotions, the more his sense of suffocation and fear increased. No doubt he would go insane if he was forced into it again.

"Oh well. You went to your own soulroom didn't you Yuugi? What was yours like?" Anzu returned her gaze to her favorite miniature martyr.

"Oh, um…it had a lot of toys all over the floor and there was a bed and a lamp and a table with tons of books on it. Like a little kid's room," he mumbled, summarizing his previous account to the other members of the party.

"Really?" giggled Anzu. _Hehee, that fits Yuugi perfectly._

"There was also a door." Jounouchi and Honda, who had left the mask to listen, snickered behind their hands at this comment.

"A door?" the woman asked.

"Did your room have a door too Anzu?" Yuugi gazed up at the female, supplying her with a reassuring smile when she stared quizzically at him.

"…No," she answered slowly, unsure of the meaning of this "door".

It frightened her how fast Yuugi's smile dropped from his face. Devastation and a sheet of terror flashed over his features, lasting only seconds until the poor boy regained his calm composure. But inside he was quaking.

_If it's not Anzu, then who is it?_ He panicked. After all, if the frightful creature behind the door had been Anzu, Yuugi would have been assured that the malice he felt was only a fabrication from his imagination. But now he had no such safeguard; so he strained his mind to its maximum. _I don't know any other girls. Who is it? Who is it?_ He continued to file through his memory, his mind's eye racing over each major event that he had experienced in his life, details excluded due to human memory's tendency to be faulty. Confused, he examined the recollections again and again until a certain thought froze him._ Is it someone I don't know?_ No. No, the storeowner said that Yuug _had found_ his soul mate. Past tense. He was just missing something, that was all.

"Yuugi?"

Perhaps it was someone he had met but only briefly, like a waitress or a saleswoman. Still, if he was clueless about them did that truly count as "finding a soul mate"? It must, there was no other option.

Anzu's demanding voice wrenched Yuugi from his contemplations.

"Yuugi! What's wrong?" the female questioned sympathetically, hovering over him as if she were his guardian angle.

"Aah, nothing," Yuugi replied, attempting to laugh the incident off.

"Why are you—" Anzu began, however she was interrupted as the two bullies flew to Yuugi's rescue and drowned her inquiry in loud chuckles and comments about Yuugi having guts to ask Anzu such a question.

"Hey, I didn't know you had a thing for Anzu," Honda whispered to the boy, noogying him in the process.

"Don' worry Yuug. Ther're lotsa ot'er better women ou' dere," teased Jou, pulling at Yuugi's cheek affectionately. "One of dem proba'ly has da door." Yuugi accepted their chatter and allowed himself to relax, even repaying the other boys for their teasing.

That's right, he probably just couldn't remember the girl. Years from now Yuugi would look back on his paranoia with his spouse and laugh; and besides, he could never return to that room again even if he wished it. Worrying about that place would simply serve to disrupt his life in the real world.

Satisfied with his decision, he shuffled the whole incident into the deepest section of his mind and contented himself to roughhousing with his friends. He was in the real world now; he was safe.

"So, guys, have you decided which restaurant we're going to?"

* * *

Like the shorter ending? i worked hard on that you know ;)


	4. The Traitor Inner Knowledge

_**Read! (It's not random crap this time, i swear):**_

-remember, The Secret Room is the name of the store that the old man owns, ok?

- i don't know if this is correct so i'm going to explain it now. to guilt someone is to make them feel guilty. (at least it is in my head) Sorry, don't have another replacement word right now…

- and i know i haven't been doing this, but Yu-Gi-Oh is sadly in no way mine, nor will it ever be. Same with the other chapters.

* * *

Yuugi trudged over the splintered path, his silent companion, the shadow, conforming quickly to each surface it touched. It squirmed over the looming concrete walls and the wilting bushes and debris smashed carelessly onto the pavement as Yuugi's pace became hurried. He was trying not to think.

A small zephyr puffed his jacket and left the dark edges to waver on its back, whispering sweet enchantments to the boy's tri-colored hair as the strands stretched from his scalp in yearning to join the playful breeze. Yuugi simply plucked his school jacket from its joyride and absentmindedly wrapped it into its natural form—around his chilled body. The sunken sun illuminated the interaction in a dark golden-brown tint.

The boy, however, took no notice of the comforting glow. His sole thought was of the gameshop. He had no energy to host alternate ideas, nor did he have the will. His evening activities had wrung him of it.

When the four friends had left The Secret Room, Anzu immediately ushered Yuugi into a safe distance behind the chattering bullies.

"Yuugi…" The boy looked up to the speaker in loyalty to his name and glimpsed Anzu's gaze of appeal.

_Uh oh_, he despaired. _Here she comes._

"Yes Anzu?" His angelic smile seemed to guilt her a bit and she redirected her gaze to pierce the paved gutter.

"When you were in your soul room, did you…did you ever feel like there was someone else in there with you?"

The child's senses instantly dulled and the shock swallowed the left portion of his brain, leaving the right side to rampage. _How did she…?_ Pictures screeched into his mind, demanding all recognition as they flashed before his eyes.

Black.

Fear.

Door.

Pain.

Red.

Flashing red.

So much red.

"No."

"Really? You didn't see anyone?"

"…Yeah why?"

"Yuugi, you've stopped walking."

Yuugi blinked, realizing that Anzu indeed stood several paces his senior. Embarrassed by their distance, he quickly scuttled over to her side. Once at the desired position, he laughed, his hand slipping up to conceal itself in his spiking hair causing the elbow to protrude in the boy's classic pose.

"Sorry," he mumbled, grinning a bit to assure the girl. _You just surprised me. I thought you were going to ask about—_.

"Hey Yuugi?" Anzu leaned downward towards her toes, the colored nails exposed in the blue high-heels as they began moving.

"Yes?" he asked, noticing that he too was walking, pulled by the action in his companion.

"That door that you were talking about earlier…"

_Ah, _Yuugi thought bitterly_._

"Why are you so afraid of it?"

"Afraid?"

This wasn't expected either. Yuugi frowned. Anzu was more insightful than she appeared to be.

Seeing his expression, Anzu decided that he required an additional explanation.

"When I told you that my room didn't have a door, your face changed," she reported aloofly, as if the discussion material was but mere gossip. Her next look, however, demonstrated her true concern. "You looked really scared."

"Ah, that, …well," Yuugi stuttered, searching frantically for a viable white lie. The option of Anzu knowing about the creature had no place in his thinking. Although he did love Anzu, she could be a bit intrusive and willful at certain times, especially in situations that paralleled this one. She might latch onto the idea and search for the thing, despite Yuugi's newfound peace with the issue. He had been wavering on the boarder of absolute terror and paranoia, and confusion with undamaged sanity, and he had just found a way to latch onto that sanity. He didn't want her unwittingly pushing him to the opposite side.

"Um…you see,… the storeowner told us that the door lead to my soul mate." Yuugi blushed as the words rushed from his mouth.

Hey, the closer to the truth the lie is, the more believable it will be.

"Soul mate?" questioned Anzu, the puzzle pieces slowly clicking in her mind despite her amazing "insightful" abilities.

"OOOHH! So you thought that I was your soul mate?" she practically bellowed, backing up slightly in revelation. When Yuugi nodded shyly she crouched to him and, so that she might convey her sincerity properly, sunk onto her haunches to gaze in pity at her bright pink friend.

"I'm sorry Yuugi."

"'s ok," he mumbled, staring at the floor in odd fascination.

Gradually, Anzu sighed and picked herself off of her heels to continue after the boys, who were now whooping loudly for Yuugi. They began fleeing fearfully as she approached.

Yuugi himself recovered quickly and headed after them. _At least she won't ask about it anymore,_ thought the boy, debating whether revealing his crush to Anzu was worth the door. He decided that the decision inflicted no harm to him; after all, she didn't have_ it_. So who did?

_It doesn't matter,_ Yuugi pointed out to himself firmly. _Whoever she is, she will be a nice, normal human being. I shouldn't worry about it anymore._

However, the poor soul found several more necessities to implement this reminder on throughout the evening, even when he was lacking in prompting from his peers. The anxiety simply refused to allow him one moment of tranquility.

And such was the result.

Yuugi managed three additional steps before he ceased his trudging to permit a yawn. _So tired… _The shop had to be around here somewhere; he had been walking for hours.

A strangled beep drew Yuugi's eyelids upward suddenly, but then they slipped down twice as fast. It was just Grandpa in the neighbor's old bug. It seemed like everyone in Japan had one these days, with the exception of the Mutous of course. Grandpa held the belief that the extra expense of an automobile was senseless when everyone was in possession of two perfectly capable legs. It was only when he was making a delivery that Grandpa would borrow the neighbor's car; sometimes the games were larger than his arms' width and sometimes the customer's house simply lay farther than one's legs could carry him in a day.

"Yuugi!" a raspy voice called, the faded yellow vehicle pulling up besides the curb clumsily—Grandpa hadn't had much practice with driving. Yuugi had to step back as the old man struggled to set the car parallel to the sidewalk's edge.

The boy dragged his lead shoes until he was lingering by his grandfather's window. The knowledgeable guardian glanced once at the wobbly teen and then gestured towards the back seat.

"Come on, get in."

Yuugi complied wordlessly and sighed his thanks to the old man as he collapsed against the seat in front of him.

"Big day?" Gramps chuckled, pulling away from the pavement. "You were out pretty late."

Yuugi mumbled incomprehensively—the only word Grandpa could latch onto was "floor"— and relaxed against the padded chair. A few seconds passed and he had slipped into such a sound slumber that not even Jounouchi and Honda combined could hope to wake him.

Gramps laughed to himself, pulling into the driveway of the gameshop only two blocks from the location where Yuugi had been rescued. He glanced over his shoulder. Yuugi might as well have been a boulder for all the awareness he had.

The old man sighed and rolled up his sleeves. His grandson would be the heaviest "puzzle" that he had ever lifted.

* * *

Short chapter, i know. Sorry. And sorry for the crappiness of it. Dialog is hard for me…

Random thought- has anyone noticed that in almost every Japanese cartoon there are volkswagon beetles? In detective conan, agasa has one, and if you look at the all the transition scenes that have streets, it's amazing how many bugs you can count! (it gets painful when my family, who loves "slug bug", watches an anime together.)

Thanks for reading!


	5. READ BEFORE YOU READ ANY FARTHER!

Hi everyone. For those of you who are reading this, thanks. But sorry, I'm going to put this story on hold for the time being and finish my other one…hopefully. Don't worry if you are one of the few people who wants this plot to continue…it will. Just at a later date. And if you are reading this because the big chapter heading told you to and haven't started on the story yet, you might want to wait till I start it again. I don't know about you, but I hate reading incomplete stories. Anyway, thank you for your forced understanding and cooperation.

Update soon…sometime…in the near future…

Bai!


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